Re: [ARSCLIST] Mono CD transfer

[Jerome Hartke <jhartke@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Steven C. Barr
> Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2004 12:28 AM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Mono CD transfer
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Richter" <mrichter@xxxxxxx>
> > At 10:22 PM 7/2/2004 -0400, Steven C. Barr wrote:
> >
> > >Reading this, I realize what the catch is (as compared to my
> "artificial
> > >4-track" tape recordings of 78's. CD players have to know where each
> > >"track" starts and ends, so they can jump to a specific song!
> > >
> > >Two questions:
> > >
> > >1) Does a "music" CD-R have to have the internal database as well in
> > >order to be playable as music?
> >
> > Yes. A bit of a refresher for most since some of the points may not be
> > known to all.
> >
> > The music on a CD-DA (homemade or commercial) is in the form of a
> > continuous stream of bits. There are no "files" on such a disc. There is
> a
> > directory which identifies the starting sector of each track. (There are
> > other data as well which are not relevant here.) Even if there is only
> one
> > track, there is a directory to it. (When you look at such a disc in
> > Explorer, you will see .CDA "files"; they are not real; they are an
> > artifice of the OS.)
> >
> > >2) Is there any way to defeat this feature?
> >
> > No. You could write a file - but then you would have a real TOC.
> >
> > >Oh, and 2.1, which is more or less related...
> > >Is there any way to view the byte content of a musical CD or CD-R?
> >
> > I know of no tool for doing so. The closest you could come is a program
> > such as CD/DVD Inspector which reports the contents of a CD-ROM by
> sector;
> > I've not tried it with CD-DA. You can make an image but have three
> choices
> > of which I'm aware:
> >
> > 1. ISO 9660 - for data only
> > 2. BIN / CUE - which works with WAV files so is inappropriate
> > 3. Use a proprietary format - which will not be readily interpreted
> >
> > Note that the 'other data' above include subchannels which are not
> > insignificant in an image.
> >
> > >I thought I could do it by putting it in my CD-ROM drive, and using
> > >the DOSSHELL file viewer...however, as soon as I put a music disc in
> > >the drive, it immediately plays it and insists it contains no data...
> > >...stevenc
> >
> > The problem is that there is no "file" to view. Repeating myself: there
> are
> > no files on a CD-DA.
> >
> What I'm thinking of is the same thing as a "file viewer," such as
> DOSSHELL
> offers...something which will translate each set of 8 bits into a byte,
> and
> display the character matching that byte. Needless to say, executable
> programs
> wind up making little sense...and I would expect the same from the bits
> that
> make up a CD...but it might be able to see a pattern in the bits presented
> as bytes...?
> Steven C. Barr

Mike answered your question. Products from InfinaDyne, such as CD/DVD
Inspector, provide you with the bytes in hex form. Check our web site for
links to them and to other sources of test software.

http://www.mscience.com/free.html

Jerry
Media Sciences, Inc.